2 Self, Living-In History, Who Is Sending Us Mock"Ry, in the Ìa-E of the Peoplei a SLA.VO PH ILE ST,A'teh'f EI{T His Terrible Revelations

Å. Slaaophile;Støtenent g7g

How, indeed, are we to define the im- case the whole historical principle of the pressions which fill our souls at this national life has been attácþed, the auto- moment? It is sorrow, it is grief, it is cratic power bestowed upon the Em- shame and ho¡'ror-a Find ;J solemn peror Ëy the country itsä[. who are foreboding horror. Divine judgment is ihose who dared to brinq that awful up against us. It is God shame "qy.tj.:n Him- upon the paople, aid, as if by &2 self, living-in history, who is sending us mock"ry, in the ìa-e of the peoplei A SLA.VO PH ILE ST,A'TEh'f EI{T His terrible revelations. We are now ITho are they? Is it merely a haidt,il ot standing before Him, and called upon to c-riminals, biood-thirsty biockheads, en- answer. What is the answer we are slaved by the By laan A.ltsakoa giv- demoi of destruction? ing? Is there any answer we could giie? ì[here did they come from? Let us ad- Let everyone appeal to his conscience. trs dress that question sternly to ourselves. he not partly to be blamed for the in- Is it not the product of our moral trea- whìch With his brother Konstantin, and with lurii Samarin, Ivan Aksakov (1823-86) famy has deserved the punish. son, of whichis guilty almost,all the so- ment of God and stained our called led the second Slavophile generation. The first period of Slavophilism, inaugurated country in liberal-press? Òan it be anything (mentioned the eyes of the whole world? I-et us not else- but the lõgical, extreme expressioi by Aleksei Khomiakov below) and lvan Kireevskii, came to a close 'Westernism with the Crimean War (1854-56). The second period may be said to have ended deceive ourselves. We are on the edge of of that which, since ihe time with Ivan Aksakov's death. Itre had been a civil servant in various parts of Russia ruin. One step more in the fatal direc- of Peter the Great, demoralised both tion we followed during tle 1840's. After fighting in the Crimean War as a volunteer, he played a with such criminal our governmenË and our society, and Ieading part in the Moscow Slavic Committee (1858-78). The Committee was dis- light-headednes¡, gnd we attain to blood has marred all the .firir"ì and chaos! -äheady banded by the government, and Aksakov was exiled from Moscow for a speech This is no exaggeration, no manifestadóns of our national lif^e? Not words. .not criticizing Russiãn foreign policy. Itre continued to edit various Slavophile journals mere Do flatter yourselves content to profit by all the riches of with dreams. If our country is mute, European until his deatÌ¡. The speech reprinted below was made shortly after Alexander II's it _thought änd knowledge, we assassination. provides an illustration of the Slavophile doctrine of "democratic is because she is wondering andemazed. bor¡owed her siirit, developed by"a for- It 'religiån. autocracy," Do y-ou- realise the meaning of the silen-t eign history and foreign We wondering of ,Additional speeches by Ivan Aksakov are reprinted in OIga Novikova, R¡¿ssiø .many-millions of people? idoiising Euroie, woishipping Their þ"gun and, Eng!ønil, pp. 2z[-35, 53-60, 98-106. Some of the works of the Slavophiles breasr is swelling like an oJean, hei gods and ñer idotå! who i, ìå ¡Ë Alexei Khomiakov and Ivan Kireevsky are translated in Volume I of tl¡e anthology full of heavy- thoughts. No external blamãd? some forty years ago has not calamity Russian Fhilosophy edited by James Edie el ø1. Biographies are luøn .âksakoa by could be compared--to ,h9 Khomiakov *".r,"d ús, threãtening us moral burden .deseiting Stephen Ï-ukashevich, and Konsføntin ,4ksakou by Edward Chrnielewski. See also caused by the villainy of with Ðivine punishment for March Feter Struve, "Ivan Aksakov," Slnoonic ønd Eøst Eu,ropeøn Reuiëw, Vol. II. l. all that is saired to our hearts'? BuT The Emperor is murdered; ,So- Nicholas Riasanovsky has written R¿ss¿ø ønd, the West in the Teøching ol the -- the same really, what are these 'Anarchists,' Emper-or who was Sløaophiles. See also Edward Thaden, Conseroatit¡e NationøIis¡n in Lgth Century the greatest benefac- cial bemocrats,' and Revolutionists, as tor Russia,, and a cl-eapter on the Slavophiles in John Ûtaynard's Russía in Flux to his country, who ãmancipated, be- they._ call themselves? Have they the stowing (paperback). There is an essay on 'oPersonality and Society in the ldeology of upon them human ãnd civil smàllest particle of Russian spirit in all rights,_tens of 'their the Slavophiles" by Andrzej Walicki in Californ.iø Slauic Stud.ies, Vol. II. The millions of Russian peas- aspirations and aims? I's there the ants. He is murdered; Slavophiles are discussed in three chapters of Richard Hare's Pioneers ol Russian not from perional slightesf shade in their teachings of a vengeance, Social Thought (paperback). Peter Christoff has written Khorniakoa, a biography not for booty, but precisely protest_against the real shortcorñings of he the of the first Slavophile leader. Janko tr-avrin has articles on "Kireevsky and the is Emperor, theìrowneã wh;"h Rrissia is sufiering? Just thå op_ head,l*lur: Froblem of Russian Culture," in the Russi¿n Reoiew,.April, 1961, and "Khomiakov the representative, the first man of posite; what they despile most is pre- and the Slavs," iðid., January, L964- his country, that vital, single man, who õisely the Russian p"opt". In their 'ser- personified the.very essence, the whole vile-imitation oT fåreign teaching and th9 whole strength and power, foreign ADDRESS TO TFIE qJ! P_!TERS- greatly like to convey to you whar is imag9, of idols, they oriþ borrow"what Itussia. From time immemoiial can eãsily tsURG tsENEVûLENT SLAV- said and thought at Mosców, but it is that be expläined, if not excused, power constituted IC COMMITTEE beyond expreision by spoken word. the strength of the in Western Europe by historical and so- country. 'I'he attempt Gentlemen,-I came from Moscorv to directed against cial conditions. There results of that the rake p,arr in your assembry, and to join ,,lrîä"919"nilîîTi:ï"tj-'j:1,1ï t!""!at{:, person of the Tzar is always directed kind are the natural protest caused by my Moscow voice to yours. I should 1883), pp.35+62. against the whole people; but in this unequal partition of rand, the unjust 37R 388 ,4 Sløuophih Sta,ætæe¡¿t A SløaophíIe Statemenî, 381 reign of the bourgeoisie over the fourth all the external cala¡nities was the moral ness of Sahara. But that autocrat, com. chanical apparatus, but to the'holiest of class--ìeprived of all civil organisation treason of its leading class, powerful posed of several numerical units, bears beings'-to a man with a human soul, and political rights--a protest, tlere- through knowledge ãnd deveiopment. no moral responsibility before its con- with a. Russian heartn and a Christian fore, against the present constitutional The reforrns of Peter the Great weak. science and the countryr responsibility conscience. The people know, dnd know forms, ened our memory and disabled us from which falls heavily on the on" personul well, the drawbacks of every human in. But that injustice is exactly whrt we understanding . our own history-so representative of the supreme power. stitutionn but feel at the same time the do not possess. Thank God, and thanks very difrerent from that of the lVest. More than that, the so-called lowest power to overcome and'improve them. to that ver¡i martyr-Emperor so brutal- Conquest is not at the bottorn of our his. class, forming the great bulk of the And our former Tzars have not deceived murdered, our 'fourth classr' or our torical as ly life, is the case in all the country, is not even represented in the their hopes and conñdence; they held peasantry, forming almost eighty per Western countries. Our history begins Chambers. It is simply excluded, it is majestically and rigorously their im- cent of the whole realm, now posseès with quite a voluntary and rational ap. 'Western despised by the 'Intelligentsia.' perial title, and asked.for advice the land, organisation, and the most com- peal to power. The same appeal was ie- During the First Republic the French whole Russian land in the shape of our piete self-government. To this very day, peated much later, in 1612, and gave Representative .A,ssembly declared- Zemskü Sobory, and the laird never that fourth class is the keeper of our the foundation to the pres€nt reigning quite legally as far as the form was con- failed to bring in response the love and historical instinct, of our religion, and dynasty, empowered with autocìacy-, cerned, and in the name of the people- the truthful thoughts of the whole ria- of the whole element of our political and nothing and nobody couTd induóe that the worship addressed to God was tion. There was no mentioning any po. organism. They, and not the so-called the country to alter that shape of gov. null, and replaced by adoration of the Iitical rights, or supporting arú kind ot 'Intelligentsia,' are the real supporters ernment. Such was the will, suih waJthe 'Goddess of Reason'; and all that in the political doctrine. It was the regular, of our country. T'he memory of our inspiration of the national spirit. face of tens of millions of true believers, the natural menifestation of nationãl life 'Zemskie assemblies,' summoned by the Our history does not poisess, there- but of men deprived of any legal voice, itself. Neither the people nor the auto- will of the autocratic power, is not lost fore, that fundamental fact, which char- and thus unable to protest ai all. The cratic Tzar ever thought themselves in our history, and no efrorts of our aeterises the political life of the Western same thing happened in France the otherwise than in a conslant moral and bureaucracy, and the pseudo-liberal po\{ers of Europe, the antagonism be- other day. It is ordered now to put in intellectual alliance of unity. The supe- worshippers of the Western political or- tween the people and a power imposed all the primary schools, instead ãf the rior power, far from frnding itself it- ganisation, will be strong.enough to stop by conquest. That antagonism, however, word God, the word Nøture. Is this not tacked, was supported by millions of in the future the renovation of that pre- is the very foundation of 'Western con. 'Western a study illustrative of popular loving hearts and intellects. And there- cious hornogeneous union between the stitutionalism. It is a mere agreement; a rep_resentation? What is the use of polit- fore, after the destructive calamities sovereign and the lanð. (zemstao). compr-omise between two camps hostile ical rights which allow, in the name of which took place before the year 1612, And is it not monstrous that now, to each other, mistrusting each other; a liberty a¡d !aw, such a revolting infrac- after that epoch, it gradually became, to when violent protests are heard every- kind of treaty, surroundeã with all sorts tion of freedom and truth? the amazement of the whole world, one where in the West against constitutional- of conditions. To evade those conditions Such are the kinds of freedom of the most powerful countries. The Em- ism and parliamentarism, that in Russia wíthout, contrødictíng the letter ol the promised to- Russia by worshippers of peror Peter the the so-called 'Inteìligentsia' should be agreement, _ Great's reforms have constitutes the great talent of European liberal institutions. craving the constitutional Iiut the changed all that. I admit that change for rags that the rulers as well as of tÍrose who are instincts and the notions of freedom in had its cause, its røison d'être; but no-w Europe will have the charity to throw to ruled. Struggle for power-that is the Russian people are higher and it exists no more; any obstinacy her valets! real sense of the political life of Euro- !h" shown broader than in any part of the world, in that Who accepts the causes has also to ac- pean countries" The foundation direction by the government or oI their because they are free from the conven- cept their logical consequences. Who administration the'trntelligentsia' ïould"be fatal, and is a kind of mechanical tional and formal element, accepts the Western Constitution and are has already,been the cause of our pres. has apla-ratus; the- centre of power and based on morøI truth. They are easily ent state. But, if our administration has also to bear the last expression of West- mind, of an wnlimíted poweri belonqs to traced in our self.government, th; forsaken ern political life, viz., social revolution the majority of voices based for a time its national tradi- upon* the broadest of Europe, aãd itt the largest with* all its manifestations. numbers of the representativ.i. tions, the nation itself remains faithful. TLu. application of ih" electíue el,em"ent. But can such be the result of the his- some ten voices-often There is, however, another side of the bribed and There was no antagonism between torical thousand years' harvest of the bought-automatically our question, of which I beg permission to decide the desti- Emperor an-{ R.ussian people? Its th9 plople, as our Eupe. say a few words. All that Nihilism, So- patience conquered nies of the people, forming the actual rior ali, every kind of misfortune, und majority, power has been voluntarily recåg. cialism, that last word of Western Euro- in comparison of which the nised ""- by the whole country. pean life, has a moral underlining. The rnained, in spite of all, faithful to its parliamentary majority is a few grains The Russian people has not entrusted civii and moral principles. Worse than, of sand compared to ihe sandy ñild"r. idea of a State could nowhere be de- full power to a heãrtless, soulless, me- velo¡ied with such fullness and consist- 382 ,4 Sløaophil.e Stdternen¿ ency as in the heathen world, where it After she has been covered with the so- qonstituted the highest idea of trr¡tl¡. called Liberal constitutional organisa- Çhristianity showing man the highest tion by our social revolutionists, and t'ocation outside and above the State, that part of our 'Intelligentsia' who stu' designated the principle of Divine truth pidly imagine that you may stop half- as the mo¡al source of every strength way, they try to displace from her his- s3 and power. But, as soon 8s the Christian torical and Christian ground that Rus- TT{E SLAl/ ROI,E IN world forgets the notion of God, the sia, which to this moment we call 'Holy rnodern foundation of the State is Russia,' and simple people generally WORI,Ð CIVT T.\ZATTON shaken, as Christianity is the only great designated the¡nselves as'Christians' principle subduing, moderating in due and 'Orthodox world.' 8y Nikolai Danileasky limits, the development of mere State No, that shall never happen ! Our Dalilevsþ (1822-85) principle. Society, which repudiates people is hostile to l,iberalisrn preached i, I"gy.l principally for his Russía. ond, Europr",published Christianity, but at the same time is un- along with the negation of Christian in 1869. The work was called "thã mosi complete catechism of st"uoihiti**," and Christian and which its author recognized as panslavs. able to give up the exigencies inspired faith morality, the spokesman for the rrr" rr.t ï"r,t tt ro,rgh"r,ã expresses the the many R.ussian editions by Christian truths, individual freedom, greatest contempt for and appeared in German in 1920 but has never been trans- ideals-such a soci- political and spiritual belief of the Rus- lated into E1s!ish. Ðuring the .,n.. and other Christian r9i$n of Alexander III it i""o-rrrended by the ety is doomed to search only in the State sian land. Ministry of Education as a textbãok for history teachers. Danilevsky was also a these ideals, The time is come fof us bethink noted scientist, specializing for the realisation of all to in fisheries, and published a two-volu-" *o.k on Dar- though are unattainable ourselves. The tirne is come to fix our in 1885-€9. The excerpr they perfectly berow is takà from th" r".i o1 Russia ønd in that region. In rejecting the spiritual mobile heart, our mobile'thoughts, on LUtope.::.ll* "h;;;", weapon, that highest moral motive for the rock of Divine and national truth. biograpþ T" f::1 of the man is Robert MacMasrer's DøníIerssky: A Totøti- good, based upon faith in supernatural I am happy to have been able to express nria.n P_hilosopher. There is an essay on hirn by llans xonì-in--ernest Simmons truth, there remains only material force, aloud, in the name of the. Slavic society, (ed.L contínuítv ønd chønse in Russían ,"g in;;;i;.'îh.." is a chaprer however legal it may be. the civil and moral aims and ideals of on Danilevsky Pitirim 19yt"l in Sorokin's social Fhilosopils';i ;; ,4ge ol crisis But a Christian cannot simply cease the Russian people. But that is not suffi- paperback lreyrin¡afin- as Modern HistoricøI si",ai-pilarr"pn¡"¡.-ftr*i"n Rostislav to be a Christian; he will continually cient. It is necessary-it is absolutely Fadeev's opinion on ¿he E-astern ""¿ _euesúio¿ is a statement n/ pansrav. struggle with his former God, in his own necessary-for us to implore our Em- There are three monographs on pänslavism: p-o":t!rr:;;J H",,..äi;^ölË;:" soul and in the outside world. And the peror to allow us, the whole country, the r T.he_Emergenci Russian pansrnz.tism, l:"Ll of by Michael Étrã"l"ru anð. seaenty more he struggles the more discontented whole nation, to surround his throne ol Pønsløoism þør-s in R.ussia, Ig00-IBz0, úy F. E'adn"r. s"" arso Edward he becornes. Therefore the final fate of and to express fearlessly, openly to the Thaden's conseruøtire Natíanørism in lgth'g":*r, ft;J,ã; Jù chaprer on every Christian society which excluded whole worJd, our horror and indigna- Pansla:ism in European ld,eologies, edited by r"ri*'c.*..-örr-R"..i"r," activities Christ from itself is ¡ebellion and revo- in tion to all who dare to make any attempt the Balkans see rhe classic Rissía and, the bøIkøns g. H. lution. But rebellion creates nothing, ¡i ¡r-ner, and David against what is most sacred to our na. MacKenzie's The Serbs ønd Russían Fønsløtism, ISZí_8. and from rebellion to rebellion you come tional feeling, the historical principle of to anarchy, to a complete self-negation. And now let us turn to the the autocracy, which constitutes the slav world, Religion constituted the most essen- The beginning of all this is to be traced very and chiefly to Russia, its only independ- tial elei¡ent of ancierrt Russian life, and alread¡ Wèstern Europe. foundation of our political life. Yes; let ertt in trn denying representative, in o¡der to examine at'the present time¡. the overwhelmins us implore that the old union between the existence of God and his soul, man the results and rhe promises of this spirituai inreresr deifies the body, and is subdued by ani- the Emperor and the countty shall be world, a world "f'ïh; still only at the begin- sian is also invorved i., it;"raìr".f"äi.l i'truth, one mal instincts. Such is the and revived, based ning 'we political upon reciprocal, sincere of its cultural-historical life. cannot but wonder at the ignoran." unj spiritual path recornmended must to Russia. co4fidence, Iove, and union of souls. examine it from.the viewpoint of the.impertinence of these"people the who above four foci of referenäe: reli- could i'nsist 1t" g."iify-it"ii t"ilãr;"li gion, culture, politics, and socio-eco- nomic structure, in order to elucidate (ed.), TheMinilol Modern -FromllansKohn(New^B_runswick, what we rightfully expect as well as {ussrø N.J.: Rutgers Uniue.- hope rrom Ih" sÍou curturar-historiJ #,iffii,T¡îi,r"äJ1i li,i tYPe. Jársey.iirr'ni'i.1,.:"?